The iHeart Community Calendar

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County will host a workshop on energy efficiency and renewable energy on Thursday, May 28, 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Stefano’s Pizzeria in Mexico, NY. The event will have three presenters from CCE Tompkins who support farms across NY State with information and resources to help them make informed decisions about energy use. They will cover the energy assessment process, small-scale wind energy to supply on-farm needs, as well as discussions about solar development and opportunities for co-locating agriculture with solar ("agrivoltaics").

Gabriel Gurley, Ag Energy NY Program Manager, will cover how to maximize the energy efficiency of your farm operations. In this case, both energy-efficient technologies and practices create opportunities to optimize energy use and lower operating costs. He'll provide information to give you a better understanding of farm energy use, including farm energy assessments and how to use those results to make sound investment decisions.

Jordan Clements, Distributed Wind Educator, will talk about small-scale wind energy and how you could implement it on your farm. He’ll present on what makes distributed wind different from other types of wind systems, and the costs and incentives available to farmers. He'll show tools that can help you decide if distributed wind is right for you.

For those interested in on-site solar or leasing for solar development, Guillermo Metz, Ag & Solar Senior Resource Educator, will go over what that process looks like, address some common concerns about solar and the impacts of solar on farmland, what happens at the end of a project's life, and the latest research on what grows well under or around solar panels.

The cost is $5 per person, and a light dinner will be provided. Online registration is required. Please go to https://thatscooperativeextension.org/events/2026/05/28/solar-and-agriculture-energy-workshop or scan the QR code to register. For more information or assistance, please contact Joshua Vrooman, Agriculture Community Educator, at jwv33@cornell.edu or 315-963-7286 ext. 200.